Catching up.

Wow. So much for being better about blogging. Four months have passed and we've been busy as ever. I feel like changes to my littles happen so quickly. It's only been four months, but looking at the pics from that last post, they have gotten so much bigger in such a small period of time!

Kate is this smart, inquisitive little girl- certainly not a baby anymore- who loves Tangled, playing with her toy kitchen and can make her brother laugh more than anyone else can. Her smile almost literally lights up a room and her laugh is crazy contagious.



We had a parenting milestone this week as we received our first call from school that our little girl had been hurt. The phone call was fairly dramatic, but the situation didn't pan out to be as serious as they made it sound on the phone. I suppose they have to cover their bases, but really? I cried the whole way over to the school praying she was ok. As it turned out, she slammed her finger in a door in the bathroom on the playground. It looked pretty gnarly, and there must have been a pretty good amount of blood. When the teacher went to put a bandaid on it, she passed out cold and somehow hit her head on the way down. By the time I got there, she was still ghost white, but they said she looked a lot better. My poor girl. She was so quiet and sleepy. We took her home, and after a lengthy conversation with the doctor on the phone, everything checked out fine and she slept off the trauma of the day.



Ahh. So begins a lifetime of worry for my babies' safety.

Will is getting into his own trouble, crawling around everywhere and pulling up on anything and everything. He's such a funny, curious little man. It's so much fun to have one of each- my son is amazing. Still makes me laugh how terrified I was to have a boy- he is more than I could have ever hoped for. His hair is definitely one of those things people will always remember about him as a baby. We get stopped at least twice every time we go to the store with someone commenting on his hair or asking to touch it. It is pretty fantastic.





As for me, my newest addiction is the website Pinterest. There are so many inspiring ideas for crafts and food and home... its all too much. It has moved me to do a few quick crafts while Kate is at school and Will is napping... I made some little summer wreaths for our front doors out of a super cheapie tshirt:





Then I just made some quick little flowers to stick on there.


I've also been setting aside baby food jars in case I thought of something to do with them... so I threw some ribbon and raffia around them and used them on the table with candles and some flowers. It looked super cute!





So these were fairly harmless crafts... but I have to say, that site is putting all these ideas in my head of BIG projects for our house. I have a vision in my head of what we could do to our kitchen and phew... guess we better start saving! It does feel good to be inspired though... baby steps!

I've been running a lot, and have run two 5k races now... woo! I have always hated running, but as it turns out, its not so bad of you really give it a try. I'm super excited for the Irvine Lake Mud Run in July... need to find someone to take photos while we make messes of ourselves. I was getting super discouraged that I wasn't losing weight... until I went to buy a new pair of jeans. Guess who went down a size? Ha!

And just in time for me to finish putting in my little update, I can hear Will upstairs telling me he's done snoozing... time to start our day!

February already?!

2011 is already flying by! And once again, I have neglected my poor little blog. I have been keeping up really well with my 365 Project, though, so that's a plus: http://alisonkay365.blogspot.com!

Kate is thoroughly enjoying pre-school! We've enjoyed it, too- we've had fun visiting for the pet parade, getting grandma & grandpa involved for Grandparent's Day and seeing her sing "The Butterfly Song" with her schoolmates at Saturday night service at the church affiliated with the school. I've had that sweet song stuck in my head for the entire month:
"You gave me a heart and you gave me a smile,
You gave me Jesus and you made me your child,
But I just thank you, Father, for making me ME!"
Ahh- thank you, indeed. She is amazing.

Adorable! Today is "Crazy Hair Day" and I am very excited to get her ready to go :) Speaking of hair, this past month we took a big step and got bangs cut! She looks like such a big girl... and so much like me when I was that age. Crazy!



We've spent a lot of time outside, as the weather has been amazing for January! Her activity of choice these days? Painting. My little lady may be the next great artist of the 21st century.



Will is growing and changing so fast- I cannot believe he is 6 months old already. Half a year? Where did it go?



He is definitely already a mama's boy- screaming and crying like he's being tortured if I hand him off to anyone- including Matt or grandma. Kate was never like that- she was so interested in everyone and very social. Will just wants to be with me. Just me. No one else. I guess it's kind of sweet... until my arm starts to go numb from carrying around all 20lbs. of him all of the time. He really does have the sweetest personality- he loves watching his big sister (she makes him laugh so hard) and touching faces. He has the two cutest little teeth sticking out of those bottom gums and his smile is killer :)



Just this morning, I noticed him starting to pull himself to face the direction he wants to face (scooting). He is no where near crawling, but getting close to learning the art of the scoot for sure! I'm already starting to plan and ponder his first birthday party- yikes!

Matt and I are celebrating our 6th anniversary on Saturday and I seriously feel like we *just* celebrated #5! What a ride! The first two years of our marriage seem so long ago- no kids, less craziness- but the years as parents have been so full and sweet. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Still, I do look forward to going out tonight, just he and I, for dinner as husband and wife. We need that every now and again to continue connecting and being a team for our kids.

Life is busy, but so full of joy!

Behind.

Haven't posted since November? Well. That speaks a lot about how life has been for the last few months. It's a new year- welcome 2011- and I am happy to be out of 2010. While 2010 brought us wonderful things like buying our first home and our sweet William, one of my greatest joys- it also seems as though it was a super tough year.

I heard the word 'cancer' one too many times from one too many people I care about deeply. I hate that word. I'm tired of the phone calls letting me know that someone I care about has been 'diagnosed' with that wicked 'c' word. In August, on Will's one month birthday, we said goodbye to Matt's beloved Aunt Eloise as she lost her battle with lung cancer (the woman who never touched a smoke in her life). She'd been diagnosed less than a year before we lost her. While we all miss her so much (I miss her even more than I expected I would), we could rejoice that her faith was so strong, and that she is no doubt laughing that contagious laugh of hers in heaven with Jesus.

Aside from the tough stuff, we got our precious son. Will is now 5 months old and more amazing every day. He's rolling now, reaching for stuff (especially faces) and has the best laugh ever! My favorite thing is that Kate makes him laugh harder than anyone- its awesome!



Kate completely adores him, too. She is such a good big sister- aside from the occasional over-enthusiastic hug she tries to give him here and there. She's been a little chef since Christmas, working diligently at her new toy kitchen. This Christmas was the most fun I've had in a long time... she is just old enough now to really get it and be excited. She came down the steps in the morning and RAN to that kitchen! Then she opened her set of 7 princess dolls and it was all over. Life was complete!

Will had a rough first Christmas- bronchitis, nearing pneumonia. Yuck. So with some antibiotics, steroids and breathing treatments he avoided the pneumonia and is back on the healthy side now. Phew!

She started school the week before Christmas break on a trial basis and went back for her first day of 2011 today. She loves it! She has so much fun... and brings home a new painting every time. Love it!



The first two days, she didn't want to leave. Most kids don't want their moms to drop them off- mine didn't want me to pick her up. She screamed and threw a fit because she wanted to stay and play! Unreal. The first day was so crazy and overwhelming for her... she sobbed the whole way home and when we got home, dramatically announced that she was "Just sooooo tired!!!!". I told her to go lay in bed if she was so tired (didn't think she'd really sleep) and next thing I know:


Done for. SO exhausted. It's gotten better, though, and now she is a trooper. I love that she loves school!

On my front, I am officially a stay at home mom! My time at the church ended on Dec. 31st and I am relieved. It will be so nice to have the extra time and so much less stress. I'm really excited about putting more time and energy into my photography journey, too! I'm hoping to do more business this year, meet new clients, grow as a photographer and really do this thing!

I'm super excited for 2011... lets see what you've got, new year!

Three.

Well, sweet girl... today you're three. Three years old. How in the world have three years gone by already? And if its passed so quickly, how can I barely remember what like was like before there was you? Daddy and I are always amazed at how much you added to our lives. We'd be so incomplete, so lonely and frankly, so bored without you!

You're my first baby... the baby I held at minutes old, counting all your fingers and toes and marveling over this amazing creation. I remember how your arrival deepened my faith in God so very much... something as perfect as a newborn baby could only come from the Maker's hands.

Today, three years later, you're a loving big sister. You cannot get enough of playing dress up. You love princess and passionately sing into a hairbrush in front of the mirror. You love music. Your sweetness shines through when you tell me, "Mommy, you're my best friend... I love you so much in the whole world!!". Your sassiness also shows. You're dramatic already!

I'm a sucker for you, little girl! I love you!

Chocolate chip pancake for breakfast!


Her new American Girl doll and matching jammies!

Picaboo Book

Do you Groupon? I do! Every day, in every city, there is a special deal that offers awesome discounts on everything from food, to lodging, to classes... and beyond. It's fantastic! A month or so ago, Picaboo was offering $100 worth of their product for only $25. I hit the "BUY" button and excitedly downloaded the software to get started on Kate's first year album!

I had every intention of doing an amazing, elaborate scrapbook for her. I have the paper. The stickers. All the knick-knacks. And.... no time or energy for it. So, I thought this would be a good compromise- and Picaboo did not disappoint! They have all kinds of "scrapbook" looking backgrounds and great layouts for the photos. The flat fee goes up to 20 pages- well, her book was over 80 pages, so there was a little extra cost involved, but with the Groupon it was all good!

I was SO pleased when our book arrived! Here are some photos- they don't do the real thing justice!








There was recently another Groupon for Picaboo- $35 for $100 worth of product. Guess who will be making another book soon???

Dropped the blogging ball...

Ok, I've been busy... but nonetheless- I've been a blogging slacker. I was so much better at this when Kate was my newbie. But here we are- Will is fast approaching 3 months old and I haven't posted anything in months!

Let's see... catching up...
Things are going well and still, every day, I feel truly blessed! The fall has been awesome! We've spent lots of time pumpkin patching and enjoying the very unusual cool weather we've been having! I can't remember an October that it has been so cool and rainy- and I have loved every minute! Though I did get a new jogging stroller and am itching to take the kids out for a good walk!

Will is doing great- getting so big and sweet! He isn't much for sleeping... we're still up about every two hours at night. Yikes. Right around 3 months is when Kate started sleeping through the night... I don't have such high hopes for Will. But oh well- I've recently had such a change in attitude when I think about how very fortunate we are to have a healthy baby!


Kate is growing up so fast. Her third birthday is less than a month away and I don't even know what to think. She is such a big girl.


Soon we'll be celebrating Will's baptism, as well as Kate's birthday party, on the same day! Can't wait for such a doubly blessed celebration!

In other news, I've given notice at my job! Yes... it is hard to leave, but I am feeling so lucky to have the opportunity to stay at home with my beautiful babies. I know so many mommies who would give a limb to have the opportunity to stay at home. Being a mommy is a full time job and it has been tough to balance both of my FT jobs and feel like I am giving my best to both. So, come January 2011, I'll be working as just a mommy! I can't wait to do all the things with my kids that I've wanted to do, but haven't been able to dedicate time to. I'm also looking forward to chasing my photography dream, as well!

I'm wanting to start another blog about recipes, cleaning, 'mommyness' and whatnot to 1) inspire myself and 2) get tips from others about these things. Keep an eye out for that!

One last photo opp before I shove off to bed: we had a blast doing our Halloween sugar cookies last week! It was a perfect fall day!

Back tracking...

So, I never posted Will's one month photo. Whoops!

Here is our guy with his bear at one month:


And now, at two months!


Three months is just around the corner!